I am pleased and proud to forward this email and the Hansard extract to you. It is good to see Parliamentary debate in its most positive form (Hansard makes good reading).

I have to mention, of course, that the British veterans holding the PJM and living in Malaysia have proudly worn the medal notwithstanding the previous (incongruous if not just downright silly) rules. As one senior British retired general remarked while visiting Malaysia during the 50th Merdeka celebrations, wearing the PJM, "they can't lock us all up in the Tower!".

Kind regards,

Douglas

Dear Members,

This is a day for champagne corks to pop! We have at last won the right to wear our PJM medal and will be able to do so by Remembrance Sunday this year and thereafter without restriction. This has been a long campaign by many Associations, not just ours, and particularly the ‘Fight4thePJM’ campaign. But you have all played your part magnificently in lobbying our members of Parliament, Commons and Lords, and others, for this right and we have spent many hours doing so.

I attach above the Hansard extract that will show you the full debate in the House of Lords last night. In summary:

1.The debate was led by Lord Astor of Hever, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence, who opened by recognizing the various debates on the subject of medals are further evidence of the strength of feeling in both Houses on this important matter and acknowledged the conviction with which a number of noble Lords have pursued their concerns about the PJM.

2.The debate moved was that the Lords do not insist on its Amendment 6 to which the Commons disagreed. (This was an Amendment which, amongst other things proposed that we should wear the PJM without restriction but the Commons felt it went too far and when they rejected it the PJM proposal was rejected as part of that package).

3.Lord Astor recognized the concern in particular about whether, in advising Her Majesty on the acceptance and wearing of the PJM, the HD Committee made the right recommendation. He went on to make it clear what the Government will do in response to these concerns.

·First, there will be a fresh independent review of the rules governing the award of military medals.

·Then, on the question of the PJM, he the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, has already commissioned a an urgent HD paper recommending that holders of the medal be able to wear it with the approval of Her Majesty. He is confident to resolve the issue and to progress the matter swiftly so that the PJM can be worn on Remembrance Sunday this year [13 November 2011] and thereafter without restriction. This therefore is our green light.

The debate continued, focusing on practice and procedure and raising some issues that will interest many of you, but raising nothing that would jeopardize the Governments intention at 3 above. Read it for yourselves on the web also at this link:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2011-10-26a.856.2&m=100026

Please do disseminate this message to all your Members as soon as possible in whatever way you deem fit. I will send a note to His Excellency the High Commissioner of Malaysia who will, I know, be delighted with this outcome.

I, and I am sure all of our Members, will toast this success this evening at dinner!

13 comments:

Arunzab
said...

SAUDARA NOR,This just goes to show how much the British Veteran's value the PJM that they fought for 5 years to win the right to proudly wear this medal. You are right about our late General Tun Ibrahim bin Ismail, I was there at the Royal Malay Regiment club house where our Defense Minister presented the PJM to him. Yes he came in an army ambulance and was in fact carried down in a stretcher and then put on a wheel chair where he received the PJM. This is how much this medal meant to Tun Ibrahim. I hope all our servicemen will place the same importance on this medal which was indeed given to recognise the "SIFAT KEPERWIRAAN, KEBERANIAN, PENGORBANAN DAN KESETIAAN DALAM MEMPERTAHANKAN KEDAULATAN NEGARA SEMASA TEMPOH DARURAT"

Sdr Anonymous,For the benefit of all the Malayan Emergency started in 1948 with the killing of three British planters by the communist (tiga bintang). It finally came to an end three years after Merdeka in 1960. The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation was from 1962–1966.The Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) is a medal given by the King and Government of Malaysia. It was created in 2004 and is awarded to British and Commonwealth forces who served in Malaysia during the Malayan Emergency and the Malaysian-Indonesian Confrontation periods( Wikipedia). It was also later approved by our government to be given to qll officers of the MalaysianArmed Forces and I believe also to all soldiers/ Seamen/ and Airmen who served during this period. Of course "Orang pangkat bawahan masa darurat dulu memang banyak berjasa" Kalau bukan PENGORBANAN dan KESETIAAN orang bawahan sudah tentu kami tidak boleh menang perang ini".

The problem now is the delivery system of these medals which is taking a very long time. What Mindef should do is to check their records of all officers and servicemen who are eligible for the PJM and pass no the names and medals to all Brigade Commanders and Battalion Commanders in the various states to organise the issue by badges untill all have received the PJM. For those too old or sick then the medals should be delivered to their homes. The way we are going I am afraid many of our old soldiers will not be around to receive it because they may have ' kembali ke rahmatullah' No need for only VIP to give this medal as what is happening now.

As to your misplaced analogy of the lift 'kita jangan seperti "masuk lift tekan button sendiri" Of course if you masuk dalam lift you will have to tekan button sindiri other wise the lift will not move and you will not be going any where.